I thrust my hand towards the captain as he looked down incredulously.
“This’ll ’urt,” he crooned, taking my wrist in his hand. His skin felt rough against mine as his ragged gloves scraped against the backs of my knuckles and he pulled a knife from his belt.

This is where the strangeness began. As the knife pierced my skin, red orbs floated up from the blood that spilled forth.
“What the—?” Someone who I’d felt hovering behind me put a hand over my mouth.
The orbs floated up to the captain’s face. He stuck out his tongue and licked them as they melted into his skin. I could feel my eyes widen.

The captain wrapped my hand in a rag torn from a nearby pirate’s bandana.
“Five diamonds – five lives,” the captain hissed, licking his lips.
“Diamonds?”
“Ne’er ye mind, thou be bound to this ship now for five o’ yer lives. Hop aboard, Robbie.”
“My name’s—”
“Yer name is Robbie. Now get yer arse on that ther’ ship an’ get to work. Start from the bottom, swabbie!”

And so began my life aboard the Strangled Catfish.